What I Looked at to Find the Best Blogging Platform

Your options break down into two basic categories:

1. Traditional blogging platforms

2. Website builders with great blogging capability

Depending on what you are trying to do, one of these is going to make a lot more sense than the other.

If you are looking for a low maintenance venue to share stories with the world or advocate for a cause, traditional blogging platforms are perfect. They can also work as a simple portfolio for businesses that want to share wins and finished work.

Website builders can do a whole lot more, though they aren’t free like the traditional platforms. 

Let me walk you through the major criteria you need to figure out which type you want, and how to weigh your different options from there.

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Cost and Revenue

For some bloggers, turning a profit isn’t the main focus. If they can make a little extra cash on the side, it’s a bonus, but they’re not depending on blog income to live.

If you fall in this group, I strongly suggest checking out Medium and Blogger.

These two traditional blogging platforms are free forever. You don’t have to pay for hosting, web design, or worry about the site staying online. These providers handle all of that.

There are free versions of Wix and WordPress, but I like Medium and Blogger better because you won’t have any vendor ads on your site. In fact, Blogger lets you run ads and keep the money yourself.

Medium has a Partner Program that lets you earn money on your blog posts if people read them. The program is free to join and takes no effort on your part to get your posts in front of new readers who care about your blogging niche.

You can even add affiliate links to your Medium posts to generate your own source of revenue. Some free platforms don’t let you do this.

If you are using the platform for a business or want to make serious money blogging, I’ll steer you toward Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress. These options aren’t free, but there is a ton of value in what they provide.

For instance, you’ll be able to accept payments for products, services, and put content behind a membership paywall. The free platforms don’t support ecommerce, even if you do get a few avenues to monetize.

I’ll say more about the benefits of premium blogging platforms throughout this post, but it really comes down to this simple truth—the more you want your blog to do, the more it’s going to cost.

To decide between the paid platforms, look at how they offer services, as one may have a better pricing set up for your needs.

With Wix, for example, you can purchase all-in-one plans that include literally everything you need to get a site up and running. You can choose plans for simple blogs or plans for ecommerce and you are good to go.

WordPress, on the other hand, is free to download, but you have to pay for hosting. Wix and Squarespace take care of the hosting and lump the cost in the total package.

What you’ll find, though, is that hosting your own WordPress site often winds up being cheaper than getting everything bundled. 

It’s a little more legwork on your part, but you also get a lot more control. Instead of purchasing a package of features and templates, you can add WordPress plugins and themes at your own discretion.

Is your blog going to have videos, plugins, or other resource-intensive features?

Make sure the plan you’re considering comes with enough resources to support your site. Storage and traffic requirements may disqualify the entry-level plans.

If you are just starting off, this isn’t too much of a concern. But performance can suffer once you start to see a lot of traffic or add a lot of features to your site. No one reads blogs that take a long time to load.